


Three Fates

by jmtorres



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-09-02
Updated: 2005-09-02
Packaged: 2017-10-08 18:11:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/78174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jmtorres/pseuds/jmtorres
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As all Athosians and many other peoples of these worlds know, there are only three fates you may expect to have if captured by the Wraith.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Three Fates

As all Athosians and many other peoples of these worlds know, there are only three fates you may expect to have if captured by the Wraith.

The first and most common fate is to be food. If you are ordinary, if there is nothing about you that catches a Wraith's eye, then this is the worst fate you may be forced to endure. By all accounts, it is brutal and painful and terrible, but it is swift, and then it is over. There are those that strive to make themselves normal, so as to face only this fate, and neither of the others. The only advantage of the other two fates is that you survive longer, but to some, this is not an advantage at all, because there is no escape. All of the fates end in this death. Everyone captured by the Wraith becomes their food in the end.

Teyla always knew her fate would never be so simple. The Wraith make a point of culling out the weak and ordinary ones, so as to breed strong and pretty ones like her.

The second fate is to be a runner. If you are strong and skilled, then they may choose you out of all their other prey for this fate. They mark you, and they turn you loose, and they hunt you as a cat hunts a mouse, and when they catch you, you are food. It can seem the most attractive of the three fates, for you are given one last taste of freedom before you die. There are stories of runners who have lived for months before they were recaptured. There is hope in it, even if you know, deep down, that in the end the Wraith will never stop hunting you.

This is the fate to which Teyla aspires. She has trained all of her life to be warrior enough to be chosen as a runner. She learned to fight early on and fought every boy and youth and man who would fight her, until she could beat them all. But she still fears it will not be enough to turn aside the third fate.

The third fate is to be a bearer. If you are pretty, and a woman, the Wraith may choose you to serve them. This is something they will leave their darts and hunt on the ground for. Perhaps what they want in a bearer is something they can only choose by sight. They like smooth skin. They do not seem to care about its color, despite their own pallor, but it must be even-toned. If you have freckles, you are safe from the third fate, so some stories say. Some stories claim Wraith came looking for a certain eye color, or a certain height, or a certain length of hair, but these stories change depending on who is telling them. Only one thing is certain about the selection: to be chosen as a bearer, you must be pretty.

Teyla has considered scarring her face so as not to be pretty enough to be a bearer. She does not know if that would be enough, especially now that she has seen the faces of Wraith who have markings stained in their cheeks and around their eyes. She has considered leaving aside her comb and letting her hair grow tangles. She does not know if that would be enough, especially now that she has seen the hair of Wraith who let their locks twist and clump. She has considered putting out her eyes.

But that would interfere with her ability to fight, and Teyla's ability to fight is her one true hope. Runners are more common than bearers, certainly more common than bearers who have ever escaped to see earth and sky again. Teyla could run forever if she never had to face the fate of a Wraith egg shoved up inside of her, growing into something that pretends to be a baby but is not, something that will grow up to be lethal.

Teyla is already lethal, and if that does not earn her the fate of a runner, well, then, she still knows three ways to kill herself, if she can get even one hand free.

**Author's Note:**

> This story is also archived on dreamwidth: http://jmtorres.dreamwidth.org/1127574.html


End file.
